Page 40 of Reluctantly Yours

Profound silence greeted me like I’d stepped into an empty church.It made me soften my footsteps as I roamed, searching for Penny, ready to blurt the question out.Will you stay?Could we make this more than physical?The kitchen was empty, without so much as a tea kettle on the stove to indicate she’d made a cup to unwind.Maybe she wasn’t in the mood to unwind.

My dick thickened at the idea and added a little speed to my progress.I left the room after double-checking the locks on the patio door, intending to head upstairs.Maybe she was waiting for me in bed.I untucked my button-down shirt on my way from the kitchen, stopping only when I heard a sound coming from my office.

All right, then maybe she had decided to surprise me at my desk instead.There was no shortage of pleasant thoughts playing in my head like scenes from a porno by the time I rounded the open doorway.

She wasn’t waiting behind my desk, wearing nothing but a smile.She wasn’t stretched out on its surface, either, offering herself.

She sat in one of the two leather chairs facing the desk, tapping her fingers against the arm, drinking from what looked like a glass of whiskey.I had never seen her drink hard liquor before.

Right away, my senses went into overdrive.There was something ominous about the whole situation.“Long day?”I ventured, watching from behind her as she took another sip from her glass.

“Very long.”

This wasn’t like her.Facing away from me, she offered a flat answer that revealed nothing.My heart flooded with dread as I approached.“What happened?What did I miss?”What was I talking about?There was one reason she would act the way she did, and it made my heart plummet.“Sofia?Is she?—”

Shaking her head, then turning it partway to the side to glance over her shoulder, she replied, “She’s fine.She’s in bed, dreaming of pumpkin pie with extra whipped cream.”

“Then what’s going on?”I poured myself a drink because instinct told me this might go easier with a little liquid courage.It was the energy in the room, the way it seemed to suck all the air out until it was a challenge to breathe.“Are you all right?”I asked, turning her way.She was blank-faced, without the usual spark she carried.There was no radiance.No…her.

“I don’t actually know.”I waited for one of her typical, cheerful quips to follow that but was disappointed.Who would ever have guessed I would one day crave that irrepressible positivity?She adjusted the leg of her yoga pants, touching a fingertip to a small hole.Anything so long as it meant avoiding my gaze.

“Talk to me,” I urged, choosing to sit next to her rather than take the desk chair.

“There was a visitor today.”She crossed her legs, folded her arms, lowered her brow, and pierced me with a sharp look.“Maybe you’re the one who should talk to me.Maybe I would’ve been better prepared.”

It was better when she stared at her lap.“You’re going to have to start speaking English because I don’t understand.”

Her chest rose and fell in a sigh.“Sofia’smommywas looking for her.”

No.Not this.I was prepared for almost anything but this.

I reeled the way a man did when he’d been blindsided, lost in a fog but at the same time fighting to control the sudden spike of adrenaline.Somehow, I managed to speak over the roaring in my head, forcing air through my tightened throat to ask, “What do you mean?Be specific.”

“Nicola.”The name hung in the air for a moment, poisoning it.“We had a long talk through the security system.I’m sure you can look at the footage if you would like a recap.”She wasn’t angry.She sounded sad, confused.Empty.

I was angry enough for both of us.Furious, enraged, my blood pressure shooting through the roof as I pictured that worthless bitch’s face in my head.“She had the nerve to come here?”

“She wanted to see her daughter.”

“You believe that?She wanted to fuck with me!”I snapped.Her already pale complexion went ghostly white when I jumped out of the chair, ready to tear something apart.“What did she say?”

Leaning forward, she left her empty glass on the desk.“Like I told you, you can watch the recording.”

“Fuck that, tell me now.”My shadow draped across her frozen form when I stood over her.“What did she say to you?What did she tell you about what happened?”

“Sh-she said you were divorced.”She wasn’t so ballsy now, almost whispering.“And that she hadn’t been allowed to see Sofia in years.”

“That’s it?That’s all she told you?And you believed her?”I should’ve known.It was all going too well.I was too close to happiness.

“Of course, I didn’t believe every word, though you haven’t given me much to base my skepticism on up to this point.I’ve wanted to ask you about her,” she confessed in a soft voice, almost cowering but staring me in the face regardless.“I didn’t because I thought you would share when you were ready.I didn’t know you’d been married.I didn’t know whether you were divorced or what.”

“What difference would it have made?”

Her eyelashes fluttered, and her mouth worked before she muttered, “It would have been nice to have an idea.So one day, when Sofia’s mother, your ex-wife, showed up at the front door, I wouldn’t be so stunned.”

“She was never supposed to come back here,” I growled out, my hands curling into fists.

Fists, which Penny eyed warily when asking, “And what made you think she would stay away?”

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